Father Jerome Connelly (Jim) and Thomas D'Veric (Max) were both relaxing on their respective return journeys.
Then an unexpected storm brought the two strangers together as Connelly's plane was struck by lightning and the pilot fought valiantly to bring the plane down. It hit the ground mere yards in front of the car in which D'Veric was travelling.
The plane 'skimmed' its way down the hillside eventually coming to a rest amongst some trees.
Unfortunately for D'Veric, Dr Chase who was driving the car lost control and collided with a tree.
Neither man was hurt in the crash which was more than could be said for those in the plane.
Many of the passengers died in the crash, including the hostess and co-pilot.
Father Connelly's ward, Jack was seriously injured, as were several others, however, Connelly escaped injury.
Divine intervention perhaps?

Chase and D'Veric rushed to the aid of the passengers as best they could in the pouring rain.

Eventually the surviving passengers were pulled from the wreckage, where another potential problem awaited them.
Paulie Carmichael, a man being escorted by a US Marshal, had tried to steal the dead marshal's identity. A scuffle ensued however the criminal was overpowered.

Miles from anywhere, the group spotted a house of some sort not too far in the distance, illuminated by the flashes of lightning. They made their way there.
D'Veric and Connelly went to the house ahead of the rest in the hope of not scaring the occupants.
Knocking on the door they received no answer. Then Connelly made an odd discovery; a casing for a Webley .455 pistol round laying on the veranda...

Bringing the survivors into the deserted farmhouse, they lit a fire and tried to get comfortable.

D'Veric and Connelly discovered Bill, a crazy hobo hiding in the cellar. He was quite violent and had to be subdued, as did Carmichael.

A number of bizarre discoveries were made:

Strange carvings above the windows and doors, notes and a jopurnal pointing to some sort of ritual having taken place, and a folder on which was the name Thomas D'Veric, written in his own handwriting.
Also, they came to realise that there was something 'living' in the loft.

Bill makes a break for it, running from the house into the night, he is shortly followed by Carmichael. Connelly and D'Veric witness him attacked and his heart eaten out before their very eyes.
At the last minute they scramble back into the house and narrowly avoid becoming the creature's next victims.

As Connelly and D'Veric make preparations for removal of the entity from this world, British Army Colonel Thomas Riley awakes to find himself soaked through and in a mass open grave.
Quickly extricating himself from the foul pit he begins to remember how he came to be there :-
He and his companion Clarke, both having one Guiseppe Scipino as a mutual friend, had come to this farm house at the dying man's request apparently to right a wrong he and his friends had committed in their younger years.
Almost as soon as the two arrived on the farm, then more cars arrived. These men were none too pleased at Riley and Clarke's presence and things became heated.
Eventually a big black man by the name of Merlin took Riley to the mass grave and shot him.
It was only pure luck that the bullet hit one of the colonel's medals.

Riley made his way back to the farmhouse where he found the survivors of the crash.
It soon became apparent that he and D'Veric had a mutual friend â€“ Caleb Clarke.

Before long the midnight hour arrived and the group started the ritual to banish the creature. It knew what was happening and began bashing the building in the hope of getting in.
Then the occupants heard a woman's voice calling from the trees outside.
Not believing the voice at all the group ignored it, but then the animated corpse of a woman was seen approaching the house. Riley took the wood axe and attacked the corpse, and was set upon by the body of Carmichael. D'Veric joined the fray and shot the criminal several times.
Eventually, between the two they managed to dispatch their assailants.

The ritual continued and the creature became more aggressive.
D'Veric cast Powder of Ibn Ghazi on the creature to reveal it and the all involved narrowly avoided going insane.
When the ritual came to an end there was a blinding flash and the malevolance in the atmosphere was gone...

Session 4

Realising that they had been successful, the group were all relieved and regained some of their frayed wits.
Still on guard however, and aware that someone has been bringing the creature victims and then disposing of the bodies in the mass grave-pit, they set up a watch while the rest of the group got some sleep.

In the morning, just as dawn was breaking the sound of approaching cars could be heard.
Immediately Riley and D'Veric ushered the survivors out of the back door and urged them to hide in the long grass.

D'Veric went to the veranda to 'greet' the new arrivals.
There were three cars. One carried the sheriff and some uniformed officers, another carried what looked to be thugs or gangsters and the last carried a big black man, who D'Veric assumed to be the man who had shot Riley, and a well dressed, slightly portly gentleman who introduced himself as Mr Marlborough.

Marlborough demanded to know why they were on the property and D'Veric didn't hold back, instantly bringing the creature into the dialogue.
Marlborough sent Merlin in to see if the creature truly was gone. The black man confirmed that indeed it was.
In the mean time Riley used his military experience to sneak around the back of the men and punctured the fuel tank on the rear car. Once he was clear of the vehicle he set light to the fuel and watched as the flames made their way slowly to the tank. The car exploded taking out a couple of the goons.

Tension was already building up as the police officers approached the farmhouse and as soon as the distraction of the explosion took everyone's attention D'Veric decided to make his first move. He took his knife and thrust it into Merlin's eye then got into a scuffle with the two policemen.
He managed to wrest the officers shotgun from him and fired it at the still standing Merlin. At this close range the buckshot shredded the flesh from the man's arm and he dead to the ground.
The other officer was about to fire on D'Veric but Chase shot him in the head.

Riley had moved around again to a better position and was picking off the bad guys and the sheriff.

Marlborough got back in his car and the driver took off, and despite D'Veric's frantic attempts to shoot him he managed to get away.

With the fight over, Riley and D'Veric gathered weapons and ammunition and then got everyone into the remaining car. It was a squeeze and Riley and the pilot Reynolds were having to travel on the footplate but. They started off for civilisation. As he was pulling away down the driveway, D'Veric caught a glimpse in his mirror of Merlin getting back up...